Authorities Issued Warning Against Supplements In L.A.

Key health officials in California issued a public warning about an energy product sold at convenience stores and smoke shops after three people died of overdoses in the Los Angeles area.

The products, sold online and at convenience stores and smoke shops in the form of tablets, gummies and drink mixes, contain the compound kratom, which medical experts say can be addictive and often carries toxic consequences.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in a release issued 12 September, warned consumers and health care providers about the synthetic kratom compound 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) after the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner identified three fatal overdoses in residents who'd used products containing it.

Officials did not identify the victims or say where they lived in the county; but, autopsies revealed the victims, all between ages 18 and 40, had consumed alcohol in each case, according to the health department.

"The decedents were otherwise healthy, with no other substances identified as substantively contributing to their deaths," the agency wrote in the Sept. 12 notice. "At low doses, 7-OH can have stimulant-like effects, and at higher doses, it has opioid-like effects."

High doses of 7-OH alone, or those mixed with alcohol or other sedatives, can cause "severe respiratory depression and death," Los Angeles County health officials wrote. "Again, they are unregulated and may contain unknown concentrations of 7-OH, increasing the risk of unintentional overdose."

Late this summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it would be taking steps to ban 7-OH.

During a 29 July press conference, FDA commissioner Martin Makary spoke alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to announce plans to send warning letters to companies for illegally marketing products containing 7-OH, part of an effort to combat the country's opioid addiction problem.

The compound will be scheduled as an illicit drug if the Drug Enforcement Administration − a branch of the Justice Department responsible for classifying drugs as controlled substances − approves the change after a review.